4 ms·

Did she ever document her mental process for these sorts of feats? I mean, I doubt I could come up with the correct answer given an unlimited time, a ream of pa

by scoot 14y ago

Did she ever document her mental process for these sorts of feats? I mean, I doubt I could come up with the correct answer given an unlimited time, a ream of paper, and a pocket calculator, so I'm fascinated how she did. Was she very good at complex math, or did she leverage a huge working memory to split the problem up into a larger number of simpler calculations, or some other combination of factors?

ArikBe 14y ago
This is somewhat related. I remember watching an episode of "Stan Lee's Super humans" on the Discovery channel. They were with a man who was also able to do lightning fast calculations, not of the complexity as described in the article, but he could easily recall dates, multiply 5 digit numbers faster than someone with a calculator etc. They put this man under an MRI scanner while giving him problems to solve. What they noticed was an unusually high activity in a part of the brain that is responsible for eye movement. So – perhaps not very scientifically responsible – the neurologist offered the explanation that he was using a part of his brain that is normally used to solve complex mathematics subconsciously in order to position our eyes properly throughout the day. Apparently this motor movement is very complex and he was leveraging the ability of this area to solve these arithmetic problems and engage in pattern matching in order to recollect past dates.
- Leszek 14y ago
  So like GPGPU, but with specialised parts of the brain instead? That's pretty cool.
- Wingman4l7 14y ago
  Reminds me of Joe Haldeman's scifi short None So Blind. I won't spoil it but I'll give the first 2 sentences as a teaser: It all started when Cletus Jefferson asked himself "Why aren't all blind people geniuses?" Cletus was only 13 at the time, but it was a good question, and he would work on it for 14 more years, and then change the world forever. http://www.sff.net/people/joe.haldeman/story1.html http://www.sff.net/people/joe.haldeman/story1.html
edlinfan 14y ago
I don't know how much Devi has revealed about the superhuman feats mentioned in the article, but she did write a book on how to do basic math very quickly. It's a good read. http://books.google.com/books/about/Joy_of_Numbers_the.html?id=6k7yF2qQ7xoC http://books.google.com/books/about/Joy_of_Numbers_the.html?...

by scoot 14y ago

ArikBe 14y ago

This is somewhat related. I remember watching an episode of "Stan Lee's Super humans" on the Discovery channel. They were with a man who was also able to do lightning fast calculations, not of the complexity as described in the article, but he could easily recall dates, multiply 5 digit numbers faster than someone with a calculator etc. They put this man under an MRI scanner while giving him problems to solve. What they noticed was an unusually high activity in a part of the brain that is responsible for eye movement. So – perhaps not very scientifically responsible – the neurologist offered the explanation that he was using a part of his brain that is normally used to solve complex mathematics subconsciously in order to position our eyes properly throughout the day. Apparently this motor movement is very complex and he was leveraging the ability of this area to solve these arithmetic problems and engage in pattern matching in order to recollect past dates.

Leszek 14y ago
So like GPGPU, but with specialised parts of the brain instead? That's pretty cool.
Wingman4l7 14y ago
Reminds me of Joe Haldeman's scifi short None So Blind. I won't spoil it but I'll give the first 2 sentences as a teaser: It all started when Cletus Jefferson asked himself "Why aren't all blind people geniuses?" Cletus was only 13 at the time, but it was a good question, and he would work on it for 14 more years, and then change the world forever. http://www.sff.net/people/joe.haldeman/story1.html http://www.sff.net/people/joe.haldeman/story1.html

edlinfan 14y ago

I don't know how much Devi has revealed about the superhuman feats mentioned in the article, but she did write a book on how to do basic math very quickly. It's a good read. http://books.google.com/books/about/Joy_of_Numbers_the.html?id=6k7yF2qQ7xoC http://books.google.com/books/about/Joy_of_Numbers_the.html?...